
A Second Look: David Marquet on Transforming a Command Culture
From Work Unplugged by Amrit Sandhar
December 1, 2025 · 39 min · Season 1 · Episode 20
About this episode
L. David Marquet shares his experience of transforming a command culture in the US Navy.
L. David Marquet, a US Navy submarine captain, takes command of the USS Santa Fe , the worst-performing sub in the fleet. He’s trained for a different submarine class, so he doesn’t know this sub well. Early on, he gives an order that literally cannot be carried out (because that control doesn’t exist on this type of sub). The officer repeats the order anyway. Marquet realises the problem isn’t “bad people” but a leader–follower culture where everyone is trained to obey, not think. His experience led to his book ' Turn the Ship Around '. This episode is from our back-catalogue of our previous podcast series, where David joined Amrit to share his fascinating story. Here it is for our new audience on this podcast. Enjoy1
People in this episode
Host: Amrit Sandhar
Guest: L. David Marquet
Topics covered
- leadership
- command culture
- naval experience
- transformation
- self-improvement
Keywords
- leadership
- command culture
- USS Santa Fe
- navy
- self-improvement
- L. David Marquet
- Turn the Ship Around
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: USS Santa Fe
Books & works: Turn the Ship Around
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